10 reasons to celebrate Math Solutions Turning 35
This year we celebrate Math Solutions turning 35. We asked our team of extraordinary Directors of Professional Learning to share their reasons to celebrate 35 years of Math Solutions.
Reason 1: Marilyn Burns, Founder, Math Solutions
“Math Solutions is a community. We learn together, from each other, and with each other.”
Reason 2:
The 35th Math Solutions Anniversary is an opportunity to celebrate our work, and most importantly, our learning community and how it has shaped me as an educator and coach. When I joined the team almost nine years ago, the learning community was integral in supporting me with planning effective professional learning to meet the districts’ needs and facilitating learning to support mathematical thinking and reasoning.
Le’Vada Gray
Director of Professional Learning
Reason 3:
35 years strong and growing as a professional family that is passionate about sharing our passion for math as well as excited to see the changes our students, teachers, and school districts are making each and every day to grow mathematically and in their mathematical instruction.
Nicole Kirksey
Director of Professional Learning
Reason 4:
he 35th anniversary of Math Solutions means a celebration of years of work with math students, teachers, and leaders by a team of educators led by Marilyn Burns. This work is grounded in action research and best practices to help create classrooms where students understand, value, apply, and feel empowered by mathematics. We celebrate decades of students’ successes because teachers and leaders were willing to step out of their comfort zones to implement new learning and strategies gained from experiences in Math Solutions Professional Learning courses, coaching, and publications. We celebrate lifelong learning in mathematics. We celebrate colleagues passionate about mathematics learning. We celebrate our founder, mentor, and friend…Marilyn Burns!
Diane Reynolds
Director of Professional Learning
Reason 5:
The 35th Anniversary of Math Solutions means that I get a chance to pause and reflect on the wisdom, experience, failures, successes, learning, and growth that has gone before me. It reminds me that I have a responsibility to build upon the solid foundation that was laid before me. It means that there are universal truths about teaching and learning that withstand the test of time. This anniversary shouts loudly at the top of its lungs that students matter. Teachers matter. How we teach matters.
Nikki Lalonde
Director of Professional Learning
Reason 6:
35 years to me means…over three decades of wholeheartedly championing what is best for students when it comes to how to design and facilitate math learning.
Jennifer Lenhardt
Director of Professional Learning
Reason 7:
It’s amazing to me that Math Solutions has influenced math education for 35 years! It’s contributed and continues to contribute to the math stories of so many teachers, coaches, and math education leaders across the globe. I’m grateful Math Solutions began my Once upon a math time… in my math classroom because it’s helped me to see that I AM a math person and has helped me contribute to the mathematics learning of students and fellow educators. Happy Anniversary, Math Solutions!
Mary Mitchell
Director of Professional Learning
Reason 8:
In a time where businesses fail at an enormous rate, it is with great honor that we are able to celebrate a legacy of 35 years. A clearer look into this tremendous legacy shows that Math Solutions has made a positive impact on the lives of thousands of teachers and potentially millions of students. As I think about a life’s purpose, what greater purpose is there than to invest in the current and successive generation and relay a message that communicates to all of them that they are capable, worthy, and valuable? With this message to millions of students, Math Solutions can be proud of 35 years and excited for many, many more.
Treve Brinkman
Director of Professional Learning
Reason 9:
The 35th anniversary of Math Solutions is a celebration of hope for our future! When I first took a Math Solutions course years ago, I left feeling shell-shocked!! I literally had no idea there were multiple ways to do math! I quickly realized that I had been passing on my own math anxiety to my students who deserved so much better! I retook the course, and many others, and began transforming the instruction in my classroom. It was a journey, oftentimes lonely, for even my principal couldn’t understand why I would want to have discourse in math class! Seeing the results of my students’ successes and them blossoming into fearless problem solvers, I worked hard to relearn math myself and improve my number sense. You see, everything I had learned in elementary school could be replaced by a cheap calculator at the dollar store.
Math Solutions is on a mission to create a culture of math achievement where students are empowered to think, reason, and communicate. We need critical thinkers and problem solvers more than ever and Math Solutions assists teachers and schools to help students thrive!
Lisa Rogers
Director of Professional Learning
Reason 10:
Math Solutions came into my career at about year five, and its values, publications, and professional learning experiences changed the way I taught. It molded my beliefs on how students should learn mathematics and it absolutely impacted the lives of my students. Math Solutions has been changing the stigma around learning mathematics and bringing joy and confidence into our students’ hearts and minds for 35 years, and it’s exciting to celebrate this accomplishment!
Meghan Toshner
Director of Professional Learning